Looking on the bright side

When R was born, I was terrified of giving her a pacifier, and tried to avoid it at all costs. However, she took to the pacifier like a fish to water, and we grew to appreciate how easily the pacifier helped calm her down in public and helped her fall asleep easily and quickly. I was nervous about getting rid of it, but even that turned out to be much easier than I expected.

So when RUS was born, I was prepared and totally fine with giving him a pacifier. We had two different kinds at the ready. He NEVER took one. We tried on a bunch of occasions-- not SUPER hard but we did try. We bought three more different kinds. He didn't like any of them. He would spit it out and gag like he was choking to death on it.

He slept great though, and we haven't had a lot of issues (aside from the "you must hold me throughout my naps", an issue that we had for 7 months and thankfully is gone) with no pacifiers with him.

Except. He is now developing a thumb-sucking habit. He sucks his thumb in between bites of food and to calm himself down when he's upset or tired. On the one hand, it's really sweet. He's such a sweet baby. I love him so much! But on the other hand, I was a thumbsucker for a long time and I know my mom worked really hard to get me to stop. You can take away the pacifier, but you can't take away a thumb.

But I'm coming to terms with it, and trying not to borrow tomorrow's troubles today.

Here's the bright side of having a child who sucks his thumb:

1) he puts himself back to sleep in the middle of the night when he wakes up.

2) he puts himself to sleep in his car seat when he's tired.

3) having a tired baby cuddle with you while calm and relaxed is on my list of sweetest things EVER.

4) it really does help calm him down.

5) I don't have to worry about the pacifier at all!

No Pacifier, Day 3

I got a full report from J about how things went last night when I got home from work this evening. Apparently, around 2 a.m. R started waking up and being fussy. I really don't think this was pacifier related, because some of this waking up had been happening even when she was still using it, and when she would wake up, she would actually throw the pacifier out of her crib and not let us give it back to her.

I think she's having serious teething issues. She's got three or four new molars that are poking through and probably more teeth that are working their way out. Poor J was up between 2 and 5 a.m. trying to get her back to sleep--apparently she was up crying three times in between those hours.

Tonight she went to bed about half an hour early, with no problems at all.

As for J and I, we are tired and going to watch a movie and probably head to bed early ourselves. I've got a nasty cold and I'm planning on taking some cold medicine and curling up on the couch with some tea.

No Pacifier, Day 2

This no pacifier thing is a lot easier than I expected it to be. She's gone to sleep pretty much normally. She fussed tonight but it was less "give me the pacifier" and more just typical resisting sleep even though she's really tired behavior.

Funny how some things you dread for ages and ages and they turn out to be non-events, and other things just sucker-punch you because you're so not expecting it.

That is IT. We're getting rid of it TO-DAY.

By "it," I mean her pacifier, of course. We only own two, and one has been lost since our trip to Connecticut, so the one remaining pacifier is being thrown in the garbage today.

What decided it?

Well, she's been using it at night and during naps for, well, since she was about 8 weeks old or so. And it's been fine. She'll use it and let us take it out as soon as she wakes up. Sometimes she'll take it out herself in preparation to be picked up.

Not so the last few days, though.

Yesterday morning and this morning I had to deal with a huge, throwing-her-body-on-the-floor-she's-so-pissed-off temper tantrum after I took the pacifier out.

I'd been meaning to get rid of it for awhile, but I just kept putting it off, because she wasn't really asking for it at other times, and I hated the idea of anything messing with her getting sleep. But since this problem reared it's head, I feel no compunction about just getting rid of it.

We were pretty apprehensive about getting her to sleep tonight, but she really didn't fuss long at all-- I was prepared to go up and comfort her (the whole wait 10 minutes and go pat her back) but before the 10 minutes were up, she was showing signs of calming down so we let it go a few minutes longer and she was out.

Keep your fingers crossed that it stays this easy.